When Irish Eyes are Steeling
by Felyndiira
Summary: This is the sequel to my first Remington Steele story, "A Christmas Steele" What would the Steele wedding be like without an unexpected development? Sorry for the short summary, don't want to spoil anything :
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Remington Steele (wish I did!)**

_Author Notes: A/U where Bonds of Steele and Season 5 never occurred, this is a sequel to my first "Remington Steele" story, "A Christmas Steele". I recommend reading it first before reading this one. Reviews are appreciated, and thank you in advance for reading._

After being together without really being together for four years, Laura Holt and the man known to the world as Remington Steele didn't want to wait any longer than necessary to get married. They had just had a very emotional Christmas where Steele found out that his mentor, Daniel Chalmers, was actually his father, and then lost him only hours later. But even more importantly, he and Laura found the courage to express their love for each other, and they were engaged to be married. After a celebratory late-night dinner at Chez Ruiz, Steele drove Laura home. He asked her to come over to his place the next day for lunch, and they could talk some more. When he returned to his apartment, he looked around, remembering how it looked in his vision of Christmas Yet To Come, and thanked whomever was responsible for sending the spirits to his dreams that saved him from that lonely fate.

After taking Laura back to her loft, he returned to his apartment. He crawled into his bed, tired after the long flight home from England, and amazed at how quickly his life had changed in just a week's time. On Christmas Eve, he had come home planning on spending another quiet Christmas Eve home alone, and instead he found himself flying off to England, dragging Laura with him, just in time to be there for Daniel's death. Somehow he had a prophetic dream that had changed his life. The things he saw that were going to happen did happen, and the worst one he was able to avoid by taking Laura away with him to England so she wasn't killed in a car accident. The emotions of the week had been enough for them both to finally be able to admit their feelings for each other, and right now, his mother's wedding band rested on her ring finger and served as an engagement ring. He knew Mildred would be thrilled at this development, and as he drifted off to sleep, he looked forward to a happy future with Laura at his side.

Laura and Steele both slept in the next morning, catching up on their sleep after flying from England to Los Angeles. Promptly at noon, Laura rang the buzzer at the Rossmore apartment, and Steele opened the door. He was dressed casually for him in a pair of jeans and a button up shirt, left partially open at the neck, and the smells of one of his gourmet meals wafted out of the kitchen. Laura grinned and stopped in front of him and raised up on her tiptoes to give him a peck of a kiss on the tips. She had dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, and still wore his mother's necklace. He shut the door behind her and followed her into the dining room, where a pan of lasagna waited to be served. "I hope Italian is all right with you?" She nodded, "I'm starving." He served two portions from the pan and offered her the plate of garlic bread. He had arranged the seats next to each other at one end of the table rather than across from each other as they normally did when eating together. He wanted to be close to her today more than anything. He was worried that the morning after their confessions, Laura's rational side might have risen up and she'd change her mind about marrying him.

After a few bites of the lasagna and praise for his cooking, she set the fork down, "I think we should get married as soon as possible, what do you think about a St. Patrick's Day wedding with an Irish theme?" He blinked in surprise. *Not only was she not changing her mind, she was ready to move full steam ahead?* He frowned, "Don't you want a fancy wedding with all the trimmings?" She laughed, "Well my mother probably wants that for me, but it's our wedding, and we can stand up to her if we put our heads together. I will go with a white dress but I was thinking a soft green dress for the bridesmaids and maybe a bouquet that includes shamrocks." His eyebrows raised, "Laura, why the sudden interest in Ireland?" She glanced at him and her eyebrow went up and she smiled, "Well, to honor the heritage of my husband-to-be, of course." At this his jaw dropped. She laughed, "Now, I'm not thinking green, white and orange like the Irish flag or having anyone dressed up as a leprechaun, but I think we can use some Irish themes. When I come down the aisle, I want to use the chorus of "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." Steele would have choked if he had a bite in his mouth at this. "That's the song from the pocketwatch." Laura nodded, "That watch is a part of your heritage as well, and I think the words to the chorus would be very appropriate for us." She began to sing softly,

_When Irish eyes are smiling,  
Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring.  
In the lilt of Irish laughter  
You can hear the angels sing.  
When Irish hearts are happy,  
All the world seems bright and gay.  
And when Irish eyes are smiling,  
Sure, they steal your heart away. _

Steele grinned, seeing her point, and nodding, "All right, do you want a small wedding or a large affair?" She took a bite of her lunch and chewed it while she thought, "Mother will want a large affair, but I think I'd prefer something smaller, just close friends and family. Danny can be the ring bearer and Laurie Beth the flower girl. Mildred will be my matron of honor and Frances and Mindy my bridesmaids." She looked at him expectantly and he smiled, "That leaves Monroe to be my best man since Daniel......" His face fell at the reminder that his mentor and father wouldn't be there to see them get married. She laid a hand over his, "He'll be there in spirit, Remington." He smiled, "I could really get used to hearing you call me that." She smiled back, "I could really get used to saying it, although it'll be Mr. Steele when we're in the office." She tried to make a serious face, but his lopsided grin caused her to laugh and ruin the effect. They spent the rest of the afternoon planning out their wedding. They only had two and a half months to make all of the arrangements, but Laura felt confident that once they brought Mildred in on the plan, everything would come together perfectly.

Which is of course exactly what it did. They arranged to get married at the small church Laura had attended as a child in the afternoon, and have the reception at a nearby hall. Laura's mother kept trying to direct the wedding towards her version, but Laura, Mildred, and Remington combined forces to keep it a small, private affair and in keeping with their theme. Her bouquet was a collection of lilies, and the headpiece of her veil was covered with a chain of shamrocks. They found the softest emerald green they could find for the bridesmaid dresses, and dark green ties and cumberbunds for the men to compliment them. As Laura wished, she walked down the aisle to the chorus of "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and they exchanged their simple vows with Mildred and Monroe standing behind them to act as witnesses. They had decided on a family-only wedding, with many more invited to attend the reception. The wedding announcement would be in the paper the next day, wanting to limit the opportunity for anyone to disrupt the wedding of the famous detective Remington Steele. They even had Detective Jarvis have some men check out the hall before the reception was scheduled to start - just in case.

They slipped the matching rings on each other's fingers and the priest said, "You may now kiss the bride." Grinning at each other, he bent down and gave her a passionate kiss and the crowd began to clap. Mildred and Abigail both wiped at their eyes with tissues, and Laurie Beth tugged at Remington's leg. He broke off the kiss and knelt down to her level, "Yes, Laurie Beth?" She said softly, "Now you're Uncle Remington, aren't you?" He nodded and she said, "I'm glad!' and threw herself into his arms for a hug. He looked up at Laura with a bit of a helpless look, and she just grinned. "Get used to it, Uncle Remington, you're officially part of the family now!" Fred had the limosine outside to take the couple to the reception, and everyone else had their cars nearby to follow them. They climbed into the limo and told Fred to head to the hall. They held hands looking down at their matching rings and at each other in surprise, almost unable to believe they had really done it. They kissed several times and embraced. Remington said softly, "I can't wait until I get you all to myself tonight." Laura shivered at the husky timber of his voice. Remington had asked her to allow him to arrange the honeymoon as a surprise, so she had no idea what to expect or what to pack. Remington had Francis pack her bags for her and they were in the trunk of the limo for when they left the party later that evening.

It was an incredible party. Many city leaders and past clients stopped by to give their best wishes to the new couple, including the new Abbot of St. Costello, who brought along a case of magnificent wine as a gift. After the traditional cutting of the cake and first dance, Remington pulled Laura off to the side. "Mildred will handle wrapping things up here and getting the gifts back to your place. Your travelling clothes are waiting in a room over there, change and meet me out back in 10 minutes." She nodded and headed for her dressing room. Frances had laid out a pair of jeans and button up shirt, no hints there about what their honeymoon destination would be, although she was a little surprised as being dressed so casually. She carefully hung up her wedding dress and left it for Frances to take back to her loft for her. After sliding on her sneakers, she made her way out the back and found Remington waiting for her next to the limo. He was dressed in black jeans and a black turtleneck, looking almost like he was getting ready to pull one of his jewel heists or art thefts. She frowned, not getting any clue about their destination from his clothing either. He grinned at her and opened the back door of the limo. "Are you ready for your surprise, Mrs. Steele?"

She froze for just a moment at being called Mrs. Steele; it sounded so different. Then she grinned, determined not to let her old fears haunt her on her most special of days, "Absolutely Mr. Steele." She allowed him to help her into the back of the limo and he followed her. "You know where to go, Fred." The driver nodded, and closed the privacy screen between the front and back of the limo. Steele grinned at Fred's thoughtfulness, and although he was tempted, he wanted their first time to be in the honeymoon suite he had booked down in San Francisco, where they were going to finish that romantic trip that hadn't worked out quite right. He reached for the bottle of champagne in the refrigerator, but when he opened the door, white gas started pouring out of the fridge. He tried to push the door closed again as he held his breath, but it seemed to be locked into the open position. Laura tried to push open the car door, but found it was locked. In a matter of moments, both Laura and Steele slumped in the seat, unconscious. Once they were out, the limo windows opened, allowing the gas to escape. When the limo stopped at a red light, the privacy screen slid back, and the driver turned around, removing a gas mask. A girlish face peeked out from under the chauffeur's cap. "I know exactly where to go, Mr. Steele," Minor Descoine said, "But I imagine it's not the place you are expecting." She began to giggle and closed the privacy screen before closing the rear windows and driving off into the night.

_**To Be Continued...**_


	2. Chapter 2

Steele came back to consciousness very slowly. The first thing he realized was that his mouth felt like he had swallowed a mouthful of cotton balls, and the second thing he realized was that his arms were up over his head and holding up all of his weight. He forced his eyes to open and tried to get to his feet. He found very little footing below him and glanced down to see he was standing on a narrow ledge, hanging from his arms which were chained to the wall behind him, manacles around each wrist attached to a short chain running through an iron ring in the wall. He backed up against the wall to get away from the edge and began to look around in the dim light that was coming from a small opening in the ceiling. The room was actually some kind of a cavern, probably 20 feet across and roughly circular. He was standing on a ledge about 10 feet up on one side of the cave. Glancing down he saw he was still wearing the clothes he had changed into when he and Laura had left their wedding reception, but they were wrinkled and felt a little damp against his skin. Now standing on his own, there was very little slack in the chains holding his arms prisoner. He tried to maneuver to get at the lock pick he kept hidden in his shirt, but was unable to reach the one in his collar. He continued to blink and try to get his bearings when he realized he was standing alone on the little ledge.

"Laura!" He cried out and scanned the walls of the cave trying to see if she was in a similar situation on her own ledge. The lighting was just enough to see the other walls, and there was no sign of Laura. He looked up at the ceiling and found an opening of about a foot square with a barred gate in place and sunlight streaming through. That was providing the only light in the cavern. He couldn't see any signs of a ladder or steps leading up to the opening. He looked down to see if there was an exit down there, and that's when he saw her. Laura was laying down on the floor of the cavern. Her arms and legs were splayed out like a giant X, leading him to assume she was chained to the floor much just as he was chained to the wall, although his legs were free to move around. Her head was turned away from him, but even in the faint light he could recognize the clothing she wore as what Laura had changed into. Steele felt like a fool; he had asked Jarvis to check out the reception hall but never thought to have him keep an eye on Fred and the limo. He prayed that Fred wasn't hurt... or worse. He called down to her, "Laura! Laura-love, time to wake up now." He tried to remember what had happened to them. He remembered climbing into the limo and going for the champagne and then nothing but blackness. Someone had turned the limo into a trap and they had walked right into it. "Laura!"

"It appears that she's still sleeping, Mr. Steele." A woman's voice came from up above him. Looking up, he saw the familiar youthful face of Minor Descoine and he groaned to himself. The police had arrested her father, Major Descoine, after he attempted to murder himself and Laura, but the young woman had escaped them. While the police had been looking for her, they had very few leads and she appeared to be as clever as her father at staying hidden when she wanted to stay hidden. Apparently news of their wedding had reached her and she had decided to come out of hiding. *Icy calm, Steele, we don't want her getting upset* "What have you done to Laura?" The girl giggled, "Nothing, she's just a little tied up at the moment. I've been waiting ever so long for the right time to re-introduce myself to you. I've had all the preparations ready for you both for ages." Steele looked around the cave again; there wasn't any way they could have been brought down that small hole, there had to be another way in. That's when he noticed the sound of lapping water, and he felt his heart sink. He looked around the cave again, and could just make out a water line around the perimeter of the room, running only a foot or so below the grating that Minor Descoine was talking through. If this was a tidal cave, it would nearly fill up with water the next time the tide came in.

Minor Descoine continued, "Yes, I've been waiting for quite awhile, Mr. Steele. My father's mistake was trying to kill both of you at the same time. He wanted to punish you so badly, but he didn't do it correctly. But I'm going to fix that, and take my own revenge for taking my loved one away from me. When the tide comes in, the chamber will start to fill with water. While you watch, the lovely Miss Holt, oh I'm sorry, Mrs. Steele, will drown in front of you. Just as Father lost his Lily, you'll lose your Laura and there is nothing you can do about it. But I won't leave you to suffer very long. Once the water starts to come in, the chamber will be filled in about an hour, so you'll only have about 45 minutes to grieve for her. Enjoy!" Minor's face moved away from the grating and her child-like laughter could be heard moving away. Steele began to frantically try to move his head closer to his hands so he could get his lockpick. He stretched on his tiptoes to try and narrow the gap, but it still wasn't enough. He lost his balance and felt one foot slide close to the edge of the ledge, wrenching his shoulder. Once the water got high enough for him to float, he'd be able to reach it and maybe unlock himself in time. But that would be too late for Laura. He kept calling her name, "Laura! Laura-love, you really need to wake up now!" He froze as he saw movement on the far side of the cave, and felt a numbness run through his body as he realized it was the encroaching water.

His yelling turned to desperate screaming as he tried to pull the chain free from the wall behind him. No luck, the iron ring was very firmly set into the stone behind him. He then tried to compress his hands to pull them through the manacles, but that wasn't any more successful. Glancing down, he saw the water was now lapping at Laura's feet, and she continued to lay there unresponsive. *Had she gotten a larger dose of the knock-out gas than I did? Or maybe she was drugged with something else? Or maybe she was already....* Steele continued to struggle against his bonds and call down to Laura in hopes that she would respond to him. As the water began to move farther up her body, he stopped calling to her, watching in horror knowing there wasn't anything he could do to save her. *Maybe it's best she doesn't wake up* He could feel the tears running down his face as the water reached her waist. Just then, he heard a low moan echoing through the chamber and Laura started to move. *No, not now!*

Just when the nightmare couldn't get any worse, it appeared Laura was starting to wake up. He could see her head turning back and forth and hear the rattle of chains along with the moaning. She was coming too at the worst possible moment. It was too dark at the bottom of the cave to see much more than that. He couldn't see much movement besides her head, but perhaps her chains had as little slack as his did. The sound echoed through the cave and he couldn't do anything but call out to her, "Laura! Laura, I'm here, Laura, it's OK, speak to me, love, please." He just had to hear her voice one last time before he lost her, he just had to. The water climbed up to her chest and the moaning turned into low calls of "No..." over and over again. Steele felt his heart breaking in his chest as he watched the water lap up against her chin, then over her mouth and then over her head. In just a matter of minutes, Laura was completely under the water and the sounds of the chains moving and her moaning ceased. He yelled, "NO!" and began to sob. He felt even more helpless than when he had thought Carl had shot Laura in her loft. He looked up at the grate, half expecting to see Minor Descoine watching and wanting to gloat over them, but she wasn't there. He worked hard to control his breathing and prepare for when the water level reached him. He wouldn't have long once he could get access to the lockpick to free himself. Assuming he could get free, then he'd probably have to dive to the floor of the cave and swim out the way the water was coming in to escape. He'd be able to say one last goodbye to Laura, perhaps try to free her body so she could have a proper burial. He couldn't imagine leaving her here. But he was determined to track down Descoine using everything Laura had taught him.

It was a long 30 minutes as the water slowly climbed up the walls of the cave. He was glad that the sunlight reflected off of the water, making it impossible for him to see Laura's body on the floor any longer. He moved his arms into position so that as soon as his body became boyant enough, he would be able to reach for his collar and the lockpick hidden within. Unless Minor Descoine had found it and removed it - then he'd have no chance of escape. The warm water reached his waist and he finally began to float a bit. As soon as that occurred, he pulled himself up the chain and felt around his collar for the pick. *It was there!* The half rake slipped out from the collar and his deft fingers started putting it to work on the manacle on his left wrist. He had to be careful, if he dropped it, there wouldn't be a second chance. He felt and heard the 'clink' as the manacle unlatched, and kept a firm grip on the lockpick as it fell away from his wrist. He turned around, and switched hands, treading water as he unlocked the other manacle. Once he was free, he swam over to the middle of the water. A splash of water hit him in the face and he spit it out, frowning. The water wasn't salty, it didn't make sense. If it was a tidal cave it'd be ocean water flooding the cave, and it'd be salty. He set the question off to the side of his mind and took several deep breaths before diving down towards the floor. It was so dark, he wasn't sure he'd be able to see anything, but as he got closer to the floor, the paleness of her skin acted like a beacon in the darkness. He swam towards her and then stopped in shock. Laura's hair was floating away from her face which was turned towards him. Even in the dim lighting he could see the blank eyes, waxy skin, and lifeless face of a mannequin looking up at him. *It wasn't Laura!*

He kicked back up towards the surface, taking several deep gasping breaths in relief at his discovery. It was another one of Descoine's tricks, she had Laura someplace else and had just wanted to torture him. Well, he wasn't going to let her get away with that! He took several more breaths, and dove for the bottom again. He thought about waiting until the water level lowered on its own, but figured that Descoine would come back to check and wanted the advantage of time and surprise by getting out as soon as he could. He made his way towards where the water had come from, and found only a pipe feeding water into the chamber. He began to feel around the walls for a latch or a door. Just when he was about to give up and head back to the surface for another breath, his hand brushed a rock formation in the wall that turned slightly under his hand. He groped for it and turned it to the side. A panel in the wall opened up and he and the water began to flood through it into the room beyond. He pulled himself to his feet and looked around a plain white room containing a pump that was forcing water into the chamber. There was a set of stairs leading up on one side to a door. He pulled himself over to the stairs as best as he could against the flood of water and made his way up to the door. Sighing in relief that the door was unlocked, he cracked the door open and stared in surprise at the sight in front of him. He opened the door and stepped out into a desert plain with several buildings clustered together. It looked like a Wild West ghost town or a movie set of some kind. On the ground next to him he could see the metal grate that was in the ceiling of the cave. He looked at the ground and saw tracks leading away from the grate and towards the town. He wrung out his shirt, and tucked the lock pick that he had kept gripped tightly in his hand into his pants pocket. He might need it to rescue Laura. He followed the tracks towards the town with determination in every stride.


	3. Chapter 3

Laura came back to consciousness very slowly, blinking her eyes several times she saw absolutely nothing. It was pitch black. She was laying on her back, but couldn't feel any bindings on her arms or legs, and started to reach for her face to see if she was blindfolded when her arm hit something above her head. Something very low over her head. She brought her hand up her body to her face and found her eyes weren't covered. She stretched her hand up slowly and found the ceiling just inches above her head. Using her hands and feet she quickly determined she was in a very small box, just large enough for her to lay in and roll around slightly. *A coffin* A shiver ran up her spine, remembering another time when she and Steele had been hiding in a coffin that had been pushed into a crematorium. She focused on keeping her breathing slow and shallow, not knowing how much air she had she knew staying calm would be important.

*Steele! Oh God, where was he? What had happened??* She closed her eyes and thought back to the wedding reception, changing clothes, and going out to the limo. When Steele had opened the door for the champagne there was a gas and the doors were locked and everything went black after that. Obviously someone had done something to Fred and set up a trap for them. She had to figure out where she was and go help Steele. She felt around the space as best she could in the dark and found nothing useful or unusual, except for one space in the padding that appeared to have been replaced with a mesh material. She was trying to piece together what it could be when a soft voice came out of it. *A speaker, of course*

"It sounds like you are awake at last. Are you comfortable, Miss Holt, I mean, Mrs. Steele? I hope the accommodations aren't too confining for you, not that it matters as you won't be bothered by it for very long. You'll have about 24 hours of air if you remain calm, Mrs. Steele, which if Mr. Steele survived his first challenge might give him enough time to find you and rescue you. Or not. He could be dead already and then you'll follow behind him. I don't really know, I suppose I'd better go check on him. But I wanted to see if you were awake yet. And he has other challenges to solve before he'll find out where I've hidden you. So if he's too slow......" Minor Descoines' childish giggle came through the speaker and Laura turned her head away, unable to stop the single tear from running down her face at the thought that Remington might be dead. "You just make yourself at home, it might very well be the last home you ever know after all. Night night." Laura panicked for just a moment, fearing that some kind of sleeping gas would be coming through the grill next, but nothing happened. She got her breathing back under control as quickly as possible, years of ballet training coming in handy.

*So, I'm trapped somewhere in a coffin and Remington has 24 hours to find me or I'll suffocate.* She began tapping on the sides of the box. Despite the padding, it sounded very solid and a cold ball of fear began to build in her stomach. *I've think I've been buried alive. Yelling won't go any good if I'm far enough under the ground.* Once again panic began to rise and she dropped into a breathing technique to settle herself down. There wasn't anything she could do but wait and pray that Steele was good enough to survive Minor Descoines' challenges and would find her in time. Otherwise they would have one of the shortest married lives ever.

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Steele moved parallel to the tracks leading into the group of buildings, looking around him for any sign of additional traps or indications that Minor had gone another way. The trail was almost too obvious which made him nervous. He knew the odds were against him, but he had to try to rescue Laura. Life wouldn't be worth living without her anyway, and he'd give his life for hers without a second's thought. Darting his eyes back and forth as he moved along the trail, he felt himself stumble over something. Glancing down, he saw the remains of a tripwire strung between two rocks and just had a second to fear what that would trigger when one of the buildings exploded in a fireball. Steele stared in shock as the debris rained down around the remains of the building. *Dear God, don't let that be where Laura was being kept, if I've killed her....*

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Laura heard a loud boom from somewhere above her, dulled somewhat from the ground that she was certain was between her and the surface of the ground. She even felt the vibration through the walls of the coffin. Something... or someone... had been blown up. *Dear God, please let Remington be all right....* She reached down to check her pockets for anything of use, and realized that her jeans were gone! She began to feel her clothes and realized her shirt and pants were gone and she appeared to be wearing an old fashioned dress, like Minor had been wearing the first time they had encountered her. *Oh God, what did Minor need my clothes for? To trick Remington??*

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Steele had to slow down his approach now, looking up, down, to the left and right before taking a couple of cautious steps. The sun was pounding down on him and the sweat from his brow was mixing with the remains of the water from his swim. It seemed an eternity before he reached the end of the dusty trail, which ended at the start of the boardwalk sidewalk in front of the first building. Glancing around he saw about a dozen buildings remaining, including a church at the far end of the town. *What do I do? Should I just start searching one at a time? There are probably booby traps in all of these buildings designed to kill me, Laura, or both of us, and who knows how much time I have. Descoines always gave us a deadline, surely Minor would do the same, but she didn't tell me because she wanted me to believe it was Laura drowning beneath me.* As his mind raced to come up with a plan, he scanned the six buildings on the opposite side of the street, their signs faded but still legible. One of them caught his eye and he raised an eyebrow. *Mother Mildred's Boarding House?"* That seemed as good a place to start as any. He cautiously made his way to halfway between the two rows of buildings before turning around to look at the names on the buildings on the other side of the street and paused, *Holt's Haberdashery*. He stood in the middle of the street looking back and forth between the two, trying to figure out which one he should search first when he became aware of a pounding noise behind him. Spinning around, he saw a stagecoach with four horses being driven down the street directly at him at full speed, Minor Descoine at the driver's seat whipping the horses to go even faster. He froze in shock....

**TBC (Cliffhanger....)**


	4. Chapter 4

With only a moment to decide, he threw himself to the side towards *Holt's Haberdashery* and scrambled out of the street and through the doorway, turning to watch the stagecoach continue down the street and the girlish laughter of Minor Descoine trailing behind it. Laura's collection of hats made this a reasonable place to start searching, *The woman has more hats than most women have shoes!* He looked around cautiously, not knowing what to expect. Sure enough, there were dozens of fedoras (Laura's preferred style of hat) on mannequin heads filling the room, with a countertop running the length of the room on one side. He approached the head closest to him, and the hat looked suspiciously like one of Laura's favorites. He cautiously lifted the hat from the head. He realized too late that there was a cord attached to the hat running down into the head until he heard the ominous click, and the sound of the door slamming shut and locking behind him. Looking around the room, which he was surprised hadn't blown up around him instantly, he muttered, "Bloody hell."

Minor's voice echoed slightly in the room, "Welcome to the hat store, Mr. Steele, I hope you find something that is to Mrs. Steele's liking. I must say, well done for making it this far, I knew you would, and I have ever so many more games ready for us to play. I only hope Mrs. Steele lives long enough for you to find her. 24 hours is such a short time in a new bride's life, don't you agree? The key to the door is located under one of the many hats in the room, good luck finding it Mr. Steele, and hopefully you won't trigger any other surprises while you're searching. It should be a blast watching you figure this out. I've even left you a clue about Mrs. Steele's location if you're fortunate enough to find it and figure it out. Have fun - oh, and if you don't find the key within an hour, it won't matter, as the building will blow up, along with any chance for Mrs. Steele. Enjoy!" The laughter started up again, and looking around the room he saw that the room had no windows and only the single door available as an exit. So he could either sit here for an hour and get blown up, try to find the key and trigger a booby trap and get blown up, or hope to hell he could find both the key and the clue without getting blown up.

Dropping the hat to the side of the mannequin's head, he began to work his way through the room, picking up hats as he walked around the outer perimeter of the room. There was no sign of a key in any of them, but some of the hats had letters printed on the inside of them. Those hats he gathered in one hand as he walked around the room, figuring they had to be part of the clue. After one circuit he had no key but had found 5 letters, two L's, two A's, and a Y. He set the pile down on the counter. Looking around the room he figured there were at least another 40 hats to go through. If he wanted to make sure he had every letter, he'd have to go through every hat, but that increased his risk of triggering a booby trap. He had no choice, and began another circuit around the room. This gained him no key, but 3 more letters, two U's and a K. Now there were only about 15 hats left. They formed a couple of rings around the middle hat. That probably was either the key, the bomb, or the last of the letters. He'd save it for last. He did the next ring of hats and found two more letters, a C and an R. That left the middle hat. The key HAD to be there, was the threat of a bomb just to slow him down from checking the hats? He didn't know, but he went to the middle hat and found a large metal key hanging from a thread inside the hat. Breaking the thread, he walked back over to the counter where he'd left the lettered hats.

LLAAYUUKCR sure didn't look like any word he could think of. The clue was probably multiple words then. He thought about taking the hats with him and solving the puzzle outside, but couldn't be sure he would remember all of the letters, doubted he could carry them all, and the building might blow up when he tried the key in the door. Best to try and solve it here then. He started looking for letter combinations and smiled when he saw one right away. He pulled aside an L, an A, a U, the R, and the other A. That gave him LAURA with LYUKC left over. It didn't take him long to figure out the second word was probably the first and came up with the clue of "LUCKY LAURA". Not knowing how that was a clue to her location, he made his way to the door and looked inside the lock and at the key for any sign of a trap. Unable to find anything he slid they key into the lock and turned it. There was a snick as the door unlocked, and he pulled the door open and quickly moved out of the building into the street. Nothing happened. Again, a surprise. *Well, next place to try would be *Mother Mildred's Boarding House* I guess.* He began to walk across the street and glanced back at the haberdashery just in time to watch the building exploded in a flash of light and smoke, and fell to the ground. *Bloody bomb was on a time delay. Lovely.*

As the sound of the explosion faded away, Steele realized he could still hear something ticking. He looked around frantically trying to figure out if he had triggered another bomb when he realized the ticking was coming from the end of the street where the church was. The steeple had what looked like a clock, but after taking a couple of steps closer he realized it was a countdown. It had already gone through about 2 hours, probably while he was in the cave room. He had used up another 30 to 40 minutes of Laura's 24 hours escaping the hat shop. All he knew for sure was her 24 hours was down to 21 and a half now, and as he worked his way through the town, he'd have the clock steeple counting down Laura's life for him. *Bloody Hell* he thought to himself, and turned to head back towards the boarding house, wondering what sort of game Minor had in store for him in this building.

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Laura had dozed off inside of her dark prison when she heard and felt another rumble of an explosion. This one sounded and felt a little bit closer than the other one. She felt so helpless inside of her prison. It was not a feeling Laura enjoyed at all. Suddenly Minor's voice came through the speaker, "Oh well done, Mrs. Steele, your husband managed to pass another test. He's proving to be just as hard to kill as I knew he would be. But no time to talk right now, the game is afoot!" The speaker fell silent, and Laura brushed away a tear from her eye. *Remington is still alive, for now.*


	5. Chapter 5

_(Author's Note: My apologies for the long delay in updating. Real life and a bad case of writer's block has kept me from continuing the story. But now I've pushed my way through the wall and am ready to continue. Thanks to my best fan for pushing me along. This will be a short chapter, and only a little cliffhanger, but will open the door for me to lead to the conclusion, which I already have planned out in my head. So hopefully the next update will be much faster!)_

The door to *Mother Mildred's Boarding House* opened quietly and Steele slipped in, keeping a hand on the door to keep it propped open. Standing just inside the doorway, he looked around the oddly decorated room and frowned, trying to determine why it felt so familiar. The majority of the room was a Victorian style parlor with a fireplace and sitting area, and a curtain blocked off one portion of the room. With a flash, he remembered Minor Descoine's apartment when he and Laura first met her, and realized it was the same furniture, in a slightly different layout to fit the room. On every flat surface, there were picture frames. With a sick feeling growing in his stomach, he let go of the door and reached for the first frame. It showed Laura at the dressmaker's getting fitted for her wedding dress. Setting it down, he picked up another frame and found a picture of himself and Monroe sitting in the bar they had visited for their attempt at a bachelor's party. *They'd been followed again, in ignorant bliss while they prepared for their wedding.* He walked around the room, looking at the pictures and realized they probably went back about 6 months or so. There was even a copy of their wedding photo on the fireplace mantle! The majority of them were taken after Christmas, when he and Laura had been so focused on getting their case load caught up with and making wedding preparations.

He glanced over to the corner of the room, and remembered that in the other apartment, that is where Minor's bed was. He moved quietly over to the curtain and pulled it back with a jerk. Nothing there but a rusty metal bedframe with a mattress on it with new, clean sheets and a chest of drawers. As he moved towards the drawers, a hint of scent hit his nose, and he whirled towards the bed. *Laura's perfume* It was a special perfume from Ireland that he had gotten her as a wedding present, and she had worn it for the first time at the wedding. Leaning down he breathed deeply from the pillow and got a full breath of her scent. *She had been here! And recently too, or the scent would have faded more.*

He turned back to the chest of drawers and pulled open the first one, prepared to rifle through Minor's things, but found the first drawer to be empty except for two words painted on the bottom of the drawer. "Another Clue" Steele immediately shut the top drawer and pulled open the second, "You've made", then the third, "a", then the bottom drawer, "grave mistake." Just as the words in the bottom drawer registered in Steele's mind, white gas began to pour out of the knobs of the 4 drawers, right into his face. He recognized the scent as the same kind of knockout gas that had been in the limo. As he fell backwards onto the bed and lost consciousness, his last thought was *Bloody hell, Laura, I've let you down again.*

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Laura was finding it harder to stay calm in the darkness of the box. She just had enough room that she could turn on her side, or roll over onto her stomach, so she spun around every once in awhile just to prevent cramping and to try to stay awake. It was impossible to have any sense of time in the darkness of her prison, so she had no idea if a few minutes or a few hours had passed. She had dozed off at least once already, which distorted her sense of time even more. The speaker box crackled to life and the giggly voice of Minor Descoine came through, "Oh Mrs. Steele, I'm so sorry to report that Mr. Steele appears to be sleeping on the job. He sure doesn't seem to be taking your rescue very seriously, now does he?" Her girlish giggle burst out of the speaker box and Laura covered her ears, unable to bear hearing it any more. *Sleeping? Did he fall and get knocked out? Did she succeed in killing him? Am I going to die here all alone in the dark?* It took every once of Laura's will power to remain calm, knowing that her air supply would run out faster if she allowed herself to panic. Just as she lowered her hands from her ears, Minor said, "Why don't you join him?" and gas came pouring out of the speaker. Laura tried to block it with her hands, but it didn't take long to fill the small space and she felt herself falling asleep. *Remington?* was her last thought. The sound of a pumping came on began, and the gas was pulled back out of the box and fresh air was sent in, all while Laura was unable to notice the refreshment of her air supply. "Sleep well, Mrs. Steele, the grand finale is about to commence." The speaker fell silent, and Laura lay limply in the box, hands still outstretched towards the speaker.

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Remington felt himself slowly regaining consciousness and sat up on the bed, rubbing at his eyes. *I was a complete fool not to expect another one of her tricks* He got to his feet and stumbled towards the doorway, needing to see how much time he had lost while unconscious. The door was fortunately still open, and the fresh air coming through helped to shake the last of the cobwebs from his mind. Once he reached the street and glanced up at the steeple, the cobwebs disappeared in an instant. *2 hours? I only have 2 hours left?* He had been out for nearly a day, there were still several buildings to be searched and he had only two clues so far. "Lucky Laura" and "You've made a grave mistake." His eyes shot to the ground next to the church, and he saw a small cemetery surrounded by an iron fence next to it. *It couldn't possibly be that simple, could it?* He took off at a run for the gate to the cemetery, hoping he was right, and partially afraid he was right at the same time.


	6. Chapter 6

_(Author's Note: My apologies for another long delay in updating. Again real life has prevented me from doing any writing, I run a small business and the holiday rush is my busiest time of the year! But I am determined to finish this story so no one is left hanging.)_

Steele reached the gate of the cemetery fence, which looked old and rusty, but had a brand new padlock on it. Glancing up at the sharp points on the top of the fence, he dropped to his knees and began to twirl the dial and listen for the subtle sounds of the tumblers falling into place. These were much harder to do than safes, but he had bad memories of trying to go over a pointed fence and would keep that as a last resort. After what seemed like a small eternity, the last 'snick' could be heard and the lock was open. He pulled it loose from the gate and entered the cemetery. Around the perimeter were old faded crosses and a couple of granite markers. Up against the side of the church were four tombstones looking brand new, with the tombstones set up as two pairs. The grave on the far right was open, and the grave next to his was freshly filled in. With a feeling of dread that he had found Laura, he moved closer. Approaching them carefully, he began to scan the text on the four stones.

The stone on the far left read "Major Percy Descoine" followed by his birthdate and death date, only 4 months earlier. Steele frowned, wondering why Detective Jarvis hadn't said anything if their nemesis had died in prison. Below that it said, "Beloved husband and father who was misunderstood by the world". The stone next to is said, "Lily Martin" with her birthdate and death date, and below that it said, "May Good Fortune Follow Her Always". The stone next to it, over the freshly filled in grave chilled Steele's heart. It said, "Laura Holt Steele" with her birth date and what would be today's date for a death date, followed by "Killed by her husband, how unlucky was she?". The last stone standing over the open grave had his own name, the birth date Laura had given Remington Steele and today's date for a death date, followed by "Finally Got What He Deserved".

His eyes darted back over to Laura's tombstone. It said unlucky, and it was a grave, and obviously fresh. Laura must have been buried alive in the graveyard. Glancing up at the clock, he had just 2 hours to dig her out before her air supply would run out! Looking around, he found a shovel in a pile of dirt, waiting to fill in the last of the graves. He dropped to his knees and yelled down into the dirt, having no idea if Laura would be able to hear him. "Laura! I'm going to get you out of there Laura, just hang on!" He jumped up, grabbed the shovel and began to dig Laura out of her grave, praying under his breath that he wasn't going to be too late.

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Laura had just finished rolling back over onto her back when she heard a faint voice from above her, "Laura..." "...just hang on!". *It was Steele! He was still alive!* "I'm here! I'm here!" She began to scream and pound on the lid of the box before catching herself and forcing herself to relax. Using up her air supply by shouting wouldn't help her, she needed to wait until he was much closer and would stand a better chance of hearing her. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to relax and strained her ears to hear any sound of his efforts to reach her getting close enough.

**RSRSRSRSRS**

Steele had done many jobs in his shadowy past, but grave digger was definitely not one of them. He had to stop for breath regularly, having not eaten for at least a day was taking its toll on his strength, and the dirt seemed to have a lot of clay in it and was compacted, so it seemed to be an agonizingly slow process to make any headway digging down. Minor probably had done something to make it as difficult as possible for him to get her out. His frustration rose and fired him up for a few more digs, and when he had to take a break he would yell down to Laura, "I'm coming, Laura, just hang on for me, luv." He kept glancing up at the clock, and knew that at the rate he was going, by the time he reached a depth of 6 feet, where he expected to find Laura in a coffin, he'd only have minutes to spare.

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Eventually Laura could hear the sounds of a shovel hitting dirt and Steele's shouts seemed to be getting closer, but the longer she waited, the more something didn't seem right. She had no idea how much time had past until it sounded like he was almost on top of her - but off to the left, not above her. She couldn't figure out what that meant, and began to get light headed. She was fearful that her air supply might be running low and tried to slow her breathing on concentrate.

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With only 5 minutes left on the clock, Steele's shovel finally hit the lit of a coffin. He banged on it several times with the shovel, shouting, "Laura! I'm here, I'm here!" and used the shovel to clear the dirt away from the lid, looking for the hinges or latch so he could open it. Finding the latch, he dropped to his knees, and prepared to undo the lock and pull himself out of the way as he opened the lid.

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Laura's relaxation techniques fought off the fuzzy feeling in her head, and she realized she could definitely hear Steele and his voice was definitely coming from the left. She had a sudden sinking feeling that Minor Descoine had one last trap up her sleeve, and she needed to get Steele's attention somehow. Rolling over onto her left side, she put her face right up against the side of the box and taking a deep breath, screamed as loudly as she could, "REM-ING-TON!" The fuzzy feeling returned and she passed out.

**RSRSRSRSRS**

Steele had just undone the latch and was trying to figure out how to open the lid while he was on top of it when he clearly heard a voice shout "REM-ING-TON", but it was coming from his left, not beneath him! Turning he looked at the wall of the hole had dug, and could see a couple of places where his digging efforts had knocked the earth away from portions of a black wall. Looking down at the coffin below him, he knew he would only have time to try one option before Laura ran out of time. Could Laura's voice be one of Minor's trick to prevent him from getting Laura out in time? Or was the real trap beneath his knees? Steele was frozen with indecision before picking up the shovel and using it to scrape away more of the dirt from the black wall. He soon found the edges of a panel and clearing it away, found a simple latch holding it closed. As the steeple clock began to chime, he looked back down. Only one chance to pick the right one, as he felt fairly certain the wrong choice would have explosive consequences.

Taking a deep breath, he twisted the latch on the panel and pulled it open, and an unconscious Laura dressed in one of Minor's period dresses fell into his arms. He grabbed her to him tightly for an instant in fear that he was too late, but he could feel her breath upon his neck. He lifted her out of the grave and then climbed up after her, being careful not to jar the coffin beneath him. He picked Laura up and glanced back at the grave marker over Lily's grave, where Laura had actually been hidden. "Good Fortune... Good Luck," he murmured, and moved away from the graveyard, trying to think of a safe place to shelter them until Laura regained consciousness. He didn't dare leave her unprotected to go after Minor alone, no badly how badly he wanted to do so. He knew Minor was probably watching his every move as well, and probably had every building in the place wired to blow up. He finally settled for moving back behind the church, in the lee side of a small hill that provided enough shade from the sun to lay Laura down, and he could keep an eye on the town in front of him. He stroked Laura's hair, murmuring to her softly, his Irish brogue become thick as the emotion of what had happened began to hit him. He had been so focused on what he thought the answer was, he had probably almost killed them both by opening the wrong coffin. Which is of course exactly what Minor Descoine had planned.

Laura began to stir after only a few minutes out in the fresh air. She blinked her eyes open and then covered them with an arm, the bright light of day too much for her dark-adjusted eyes to take. Steele pulled her up into his chest, blocking the sun from her face and almost preventing her from being able to breathe again as he squeezed her tightly, "Laura, Laura-love, I thought I'd lost ya, I did." Laura wrapped her arms around him and just held on, she could feel Steele's tears dropping on her head, and knowing he hated to show emotion was contented to listen to his heartbeat under her ear. They sat like that in near silence for several minutes until a loud screeching yell of "NO!" could be heard coming from the church.

Steele looked up, and saw Minor Descoine had emerged from a secret door in the side of the church behind the graves and stood glaring in their direction, hands balled up in fists at her sides. She was screaming at them, "How did you figure it out? You were supposed to die! You have to pay for what you did to them, it's my duty to make you pay!" She took a few steps towards them, obviously completely lost in her anger at being thwarted, and slipped on the loose dirt and fell into one of the two open graves. She began to pull herself out the other side, and reached back, her dress caught on something beneath her. Steele's eyes widened with realization at what it probably was and he barely had time to duck his head next to Laura's before the church and graveyard exploded in a large fireball. Steele hugged Laura to him and said loudly in her ear, "Minor fell into your grave. Her dress must have gotten caught on the coffin that was buried under your gravestone. That was the booby trap, and I had unlatched it but not opened it. When she tried to pull her dress free, she opened the lid, and everything exploded." They sat there for awhile, letting the fire engulf the church. Finally Steele rose, "I need to see if she had a vehicle we can use. Stay here in the shade." He tried to shift her off of him, but she latched on and hoarsely said, "No, where you go, I go." She reached down and ripped a piece of fabric from the bottom of the ugly dress and blindfolded herself to minimize the light as much as she could, and held a hand out to be led back into the ghost town. Steele smiled, feeling a rise of feeling at this simple sign of trust on her part, and took her hand and returned to the city. It didn't take long for them to find the horses that had been spooked by the explosion in their pen, and Steele helped Laura mount one and then climbed up behind her, holding the reins of the second horse to bring him along. He had no idea which way civilization was, but figured eventually one direction would have to lead to civilization. Any supplies Minor had probably were in the church and were destroyed along with her.

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Luck was with the Steeles, as they came to a highway after about an hour's ride. Laura dozed against his chest as they rode along. Once they reached the highway, he started heading west and waiting for a car to come along. Another hour and they found a delivery truck coming up behind them and stopping, the trucker happy to use his radio to call for assistance for the couple. Steele was surprised they were only a couple of hours away from L.A., and it didn't take long for an ambulance to come and take both of the Steeles to the hospital. Except for minor cuts and dehydration, they were both fine, and Mildred called to come and fetch them from the hospital. Mildred arrived with the details of how Fred was found in the alleyway unconscious, and everyone had been searching for the Steeles and the limo since they had disappeared. The Steeles promised to tell Mildred all about their adventure after they got some rest. She dropped the couple off at Steele's apartment, giving him the spare key she had, and they headed upstairs.

After letting themselves in, both headed straight to the bathroom, wanting to shower off the dust and dirt of the adventure. Ever the gentleman, Steele let Laura go first taking one of his dress shirts with her. After turning down the bed, sat on the end of the bed, reciting every prayer he could remember from his spotty Irish Catholic upbringing. When Laura came out wearing only one of his shirts, she headed straight for the bed while he headed for the shower himself, grabbing a pair of pyjama bottoms. He took a quick shower, dried off, and wiped the mist off of the mirror and looked at himself in surprise. The sun had burned his skin, his eyes looked hollow, and his whiskers stood out against the tanned skin. Too weary to shave, he dressed and emerged from the bathroom, expecting to find Laura already asleep. Instead he found her sitting up in bed, hugging her knees to her chest. Not liking the looks of this, he went to his side of the bed and crawled in to sit next to her.

He knew he didn't have to ask her what was wrong, she would talk when she was ready. Eventually she whispered, "I thought you were dead." He nodded, "I thought the same of you a time or two." She continued, "Minor taunted me inside my prison, telling me what was happening. I could hear the explosions and didn't know if you had died or survived. I didn't care what happened to me, as long as you were all right." Steele reached out a hand and slowly turned her chin to face him, "I was feeling the same thing, but I knew I couldn't let Minor defeat me or you wouldn't survive. You kept me going, you're my whole reason for living, Laura. Without you... there wouldn't be a reason to go on." They reached for each other and comforted each other. They'd reschedule their honeymoon for another time, but first there was some healing and comforting that needed to take place, and Home was the best place for that.

**Fin**


End file.
